The present invention relates to a ventilating device for ventilating through a ridge, preferably through a top ridge of a roof.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,863 describes a ventilating device for a roof. In one embodiment the device has venting material comprising courses or plies of a corrugated material, which defines passages communicating vent openings at the lower part of the venting material with the ambient atmosphere through the passages defined by the corrugated material and openings defined between cap tiles and roofing tiles. In another embodiment the device has a member consisting of vertical side panels individually spaced and mutually connected by a top edge. The member also has diverging legs extending downward from the side panels and being secured to an underlayment. Each of the side panels is provided with louvers for providing a venting passage from a lower part of the member to a space between the side panels and through the louvers in the side panels. Roof tiles are mounted to the top edge by securing the roof tiles to the top edge by means of screws or nails. Apart from the ventilating material and the ventilating member the ventilating device is also provided with movable members functioning as baffles and which may deflect between an open and inactive position and a closed and active position. The movable members are intended for preventing wind driven moisture from entering the interior of the roof construction.
The above ventilating device has however some disadvantages. The ventilating device comprises passages for air from the roof construction to the ambient atmosphere, which passages are dependent of the air having to be directed through either louvers or baffles underneath the cap tiles. The provision of baffles and the use of corrugated passages or louvers through which the air must pass is an advantage for preventing wind driven moisture from entering the roof construction. However, the possibility of the air from within the roof construction passing to the ambient atmosphere is very limited by use of baffles, corrugated passages or louvers. There is a severe risk that the passage of air is so limited that the air within the roof construction will not escape. This will lead to damages of the roof construction due to the entrapment of humid air with moisture from the house.
It is an object of the present invention to eliminate the above mentioned disadvantages and to provide a ventilating device that is capable of sufficiently ventilating the roof construction without any risk of moisture from the house being captured along ridges of the roof construction, but at the same time ensuring that wind driven moisture such as dew or snow will not enter the roof construction.
This object is obtained by a ventilating device where said ridge member having passages extending from a lower part of the ridge member to an upper part of the ridge member, said upper part being an uppermost part of the ridge member.
By providing passages extending all the way to the uppermost part of the ridge member of the ridge member it is obtained that the moisture in the humid air is effectively and safely passed to the ambient atmosphere. The passage led directly upwards to the ridge of the roof and the humid air do not have to pass bends through louvers, through corrugated passages or through baffles. By passing the humid air to an uppermost part of the ridge member, preferably as far as possible to the very ridge of the roof the risk is very limited of wind driven moisture entering the roof construction.
Also, surprisingly with a building element such as a ventilating device, even a chimney effect is obtained by the present invention when the humid air is passed as unhindered as possible through the ventilating device and when the upper part of the ridge member of the ventilating device constitutes the uppermost part of the ventilating device. Thus, not only is the humid air allowed to pass to the ridge member and further on unhindered through the ventilating device, but also the chimney effect will further enhance the ventilating of the underroof by actually drawing the humid air through the ventilating device. The draw that is established in the ventilating device according to the invention creates an overpressure. This overpressure further limits the risk of wind driven moisture such as snow or dew from entering the interior of the roof construction.
In a first embodiment of the invention the ventilating device said cross pieces extend from the lower part to the upper part of the ridge member transverse to a longitudinal direction of the ridge member and where ventilating passages are formed in spaces between the two opposing panels and between the cross pieces, said ventilating passages allowing air to pass from the lower part of the ridge member along the ventilating passages and to the uppermost part of the ridge member.
By providing cross pieces that extend substantially transverse to a longitudinal direction of the ridge member, it is ensured that the humid air form the roof construction is passed to the ambient atmosphere as easy and unrestricted as possible. The cross pieces may extend along any distance of the ridge member, but preferably the cross pieces extend form the lower part all the distance to the uppermost part of the ridge member or at least to the top part of the ridge member.
In a second embodiment of the invention the ventilating said cross pieces extend between the lower part to the upper part of the ridge member parallel to a longitudinal direction of the ridge member, and where ventilating passages are formed as holes penetrating the cross pieces, said ventilating passages allowing air to pass from the lower part of the ridge member along the ventilating passages and to the uppermost part of the ridge member.
By providing cross pieces that extend substantially parallel with the longitudinal extension of the ridge member and by providing holes through the cross pieces it is still ensured that the humid air form the roof construction is passed to the ambient atmosphere, however not as easy and unrestricted as when the cross pieces extend vertically. The cross pieces may extend along any distance of the ridge member, but preferably the cross pieces extend along the entire longitudinal extension of the ridge member.
The ventilating device may be made of any materiel that is structurally stable enough to function as a ridge member and which can withstand the mechanical and environmentally influences that the ridge member is presented for. Preferably, the ventilating device is made of any kind of plastic. The ventilating device may also be made of any kind of metal. Finally the ventilating device may be made of a combination of different types of plastic, of different types of metal or of a combination of plastic and metal. As example, the side panels may be made of metal and the cross pieces may be made of plastic or vice versa.
If the ventilating device is made of plastic it may be made in any suitable plastic-moulding manner. If the ventilating device is made of metal it is preferably made of sheet metal but may be made in any other way like extrusion or forging. However, the thickness of the side panels and of the cross pieces may be limited if the ventilating device is made of metal, which makes it cumbersome and expensive to manufacture the ventilating device y other methods than joining of sheet metal. Different from this, when the ventilating device is made of plastic, the thickness of the material has to be larger and the possibilities of moulding plastic are more than moulding metal or wood. Still further materials to be used either for both the ridge member and the flaps or for only the flaps or only the ridge member may be sheets, plates or casts of cardboard, of wood fibres, of roofing felt or of still other materials.
If the ventilating device is constructed like the above-mentioned first embodiment it may be difficult to manufacture the ventilating device by means of extrusion. In this case the side panels are made for themselves and the cross pieces are made for themselves and the side panels and the cross pieces are subsequently mutually joined for creating the ventilating device with the passages provided between the side panels. Finally the holes through the cross pieces are made. Alternatively the holes are already made before mutually joining the side panels and the cross pieces.
If the ventilating device is constructed like the above-mentioned second embodiment it is very easy to manufacture the ventilating device by means of extrusion or by injection moulding. In this case extrusion will be the preferred way of manufacturing the ventilating device for creating the ventilating device with the passages provided between the side panels, although the ventilating device in stead may be manufactured by making the side panels for themselves and making the cross pieces for themselves and subsequently mutually joining the side panels and the cross pieces are afterwards mutually joined.
In preferred embodiments of the ventilating device, the ventilating device furthermore comprises flexible parts extending from lower edges of the ridge member downwards and being capable of bending outwards away from each other, said flexible parts are made in continuation of the opposing side panels of the ridge member and where the flexible parts have a thickness being smaller than a thickness of the opposing panels so that the flexible parts are less rigid and more flexible than the opposing side panels.
By providing the ventilating device with flexible parts a passage from the ridge member to the underlying underroof is established. This ensures that moist wind driven air cannot pass form an outer side of the side panels to the underroof when meeting the side panels of the ventilating device. Also, the side panels create an easy way of securing the ventilating device to the underroof, and alignment of the ventilating device along the ridge of the underroof is made easier by the person mounting the ventilating device along the ridge of the roof.
In a preferred embodiment of the flexile part of the ventilating device it is provided with a flap. A flap along the lower edge of the flexible part has the advantage that a proper abutment of the flexible part is obtained. If the underroof between rafter is not rigid, perhaps because the underroof is plastic foil or any other non-rigid materiel, then the flexible parts will be able to follow any deflection that the underroof will have. Providing the flexible parts with the flap makes the lower edge safer towards any moisture that may enter between the top of the underroof and the flexible parts. This is, as mentioned, especially advantageous where the flexible parts extend between rafter i.e. extend freely without being secured to any rigid part of the underroof. In a preferred embodiment a band is stretched between the rafter at least in a position where the flexible parts and preferably a position where the flaps of the flexible parts are intended for abutting the underrroof. The band is intended for supporting a bottom side of the underroof if the underroof is not rigid in order to at least limit but preferably eliminate the deflection of the underroof between the rafter.
The ventilating device according to the invention has features making the device highly flexible compared to prior art devices. All of the different features may be used in combination or separately according to demands and needs of the user. Also, the length of the device and the application of the device to different ridges can be individually selected without limiting the functional features and advantages of the device. Accordingly, the ventilating device according to the invention may be applied to top ridges or to hip ridges of a roof or other building structure. Furthermore, because of the constructional simplicity and the many possible ways of mounting of ridge copings to the ventilating device, then the ventilating device according to the invention is very well suited for roof constructions without an underroof and without insulation such as roofs in halls, in warehouses, in garages and the like where the ventilating device will be visible. The ventilating device will not disturb the visual appearance of the roof construction from the inside of the building not having an underroof and insulation.